[raiden45]

Hi,
 
I have been a frequent lurker on these forums but have only just joined. I have been looking for a nice pair of iem's to use in place of my ath-m50 since I find them to be a bit of a pain to use since they are over-ear headphones. I have been looking through a lot of reviews of iem's and it seems like the ortofon are an excellent choice. However, as I have never been able to listen to them, I am not completely sure if I should buy them instead of the triplefi 10 which many of my friends recommend to me. They have let me listened to their tf10's on several occasions and, in my opinion, they sounded better than my audio technica's. Would the ortofon's be a further step above the triplefi10? Also, one of my friends have repeatedly told me that a "fun" sounding iem/headphone (ie. triplefi10) is better for just pure listening enjoyment than a balanced sounding iem/headphone (ie. e-q5) which is better suited for actual monitoring work. Is this true?

 

[TwinQY]

First off - http://www.head-fi.org/t/596233/buying-portable-or-in-ear-headphones-seeking-guidance-dont-start-a-new-thread-ask-for-advice-here
 
A bit biased, but do love my eQ-5s very much. These ARE my fun phones in a sense. It really depends on your perception of fun. The sheer tactile nature of these, plus the forwardness and warmth is "fun" for me. Don't let others dictate your sense of fun.
 
Of course I gush over these too much since they mesh well with me so take with a rather large grain of salt. But if you want to talk business, the TF10s, from a stricter point of view, lack technicalities next to the Ortofons plain and simple. Detailing, texture, staging, to name a few. In some ways it's not a huge deal. Then again this is audio we're talking about.

 

[raiden45]

Sorry, I should have also mentioned that I can get the triple fi for 150 and the the ortofon for about 210 is the price difference worth the increase is sound and build quality.

 

[raiden45]

Also, can the ortofon e-q5 be reshelled later on because I might be interested in doing that.
 

 

[raiden45]

bump

 

[Ari33]

My two cents..
 
I haven't listened to ortofones to be able to give a comparison but the way I'd look at it is.. TF10's are cheaper and being phased out now so buy them while you can. You should be able to still get ortofone's in the future should you ever want to make a change from the TF10 sound and get something different.
 
I'm looking for another spare pair of Tf10's to keep as a back-up for when mine die.... I like them that much.

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

Also, can the ortofon e-q5 be reshelled later on because I might be interested in doing that.

Never heard of a MA driver getting reshelled, you'll have to check with the reshell-ers to see if they're up for that. Might be some technical limitations but no idea here. 
Custom tips should still work though.
Quote:

Sorry, I should have also mentioned that I can get the triple fi for 150 and the the ortofon for about 210 is the price difference worth the increase is sound and build quality.

Well at this point it's really just all diminishing returns now isn't it? It's definitely worth the extra $60 in terms of build and fit, and a little personal bias because of the sound signature. But really only you can decide whether or not it's worth it to you. 
 
Personally found the TF10s to be only a decent deal ~99 during the black Friday sales. Otherwise meh.

 

[raiden45]

Thank you for the quick responses TwinQY, but I think I will go with Ari33's suggestion and buy the triplefi's first as they are being phased out and the e-q5 look like they will be staying around for longer. I am still however, curious about how the e-q5's moving armature sound, so I will be sure to pick a pair up sometime during august. And again thanks for the advice guys.
 

 

[Ari33]

Quote:

Thank you for the quick responses TwinQY, but I think I will go with Ari33's suggestion and buy the triplefi's first as they are being phased out and the e-q5 look like they will be staying around for longer. I am still however, curious about how the e-q5's moving armature sound, so I will be sure to pick a pair up sometime during august. And again thanks for the advice guys.
 

 
 
I'd always advise to try an earphone before buying as I've been stung before.  I read the many hundreds of gushing reviews on the RE-Zero's, thought I'd also love them and bought them without auditioning first... big mistake! Not sure why but I didn't like them at all and sold them on at a big loss after a few weeks.
I guess its just a case of all our ears being different and sound quality and signiture being largely subjective and what one person loves actually means very little unless it can be compared directly to something that's known.
 
Wise decision going with what you know I think... you've tried the TF10's, you like the sound sig and I assume they fit you ok so you're not taking any risks.